Mechanical features of cable-supported ribbed beam composite slab structure

Cable-supported ribbed beam composite slab structure (CBS) is proposed in this study. As a new cable-supported structure, it has many merits such as long span availability and cost-saving. Inspired by the previous research on cable-supported structures, the fabrication and construction process are developed. Pre-stress design method based on static equilibrium analysis is presented. In the algorithm, the iteration convergence can be accelerated and the calculation result can be kept in an acceptable precision by setting a rational threshold value. The accuracy of this method is also verified by experimental study on a 1:5 scaled model. Further, important parameters affecting the mechanical features of the CBS are discussed. The results indicate that the increases of sag-span ratio, depth of the ribbed beam and cable diameter can improve the mechanical behavior of the CBS by some extent, but the influence of strut sections on mechanical behavior of the CBS is negligible.